


Now You're Gonna Learn (Love Was Always on the Way)

by poppetawoppet



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Parker is a mastermind, Parker likes setting people up, Peggy and Todd are kind of tired of it, because it accidentally posted, but Hardison and Eliot are assistants, but not super kinky sex, if you've made it this far in the tags, mature for sex, so I retitled it, too many tags now, whoops, you may have read this before
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 06:55:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13071504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poppetawoppet/pseuds/poppetawoppet
Summary: Parker likes setting up her friends.Todd McSweeten doesn't want to be set up so he hides in the kitchen, where he meets a somewhat familiar face.Peggy is minding her own business when someone comes in her kitchen and proposes a solution to her Parker problem.Somehow planning a fake relationship is a lot like a real relationship, and it turns out maybe McSweeten has some moves...





	Now You're Gonna Learn (Love Was Always on the Way)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lovebeyondmeasure](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovebeyondmeasure/gifts).



> title from Kris Allen's "Love Will Find You"

Peggy doesn’t pay attention when the kitchen door opens.

“I thought we said we were going to text each other when we were going to do these things.”

Peggy closes her eyes at the sound of his voice. (Agent Todd McSweeten, big brown eyes, very kissable lips, and current bane of her existence.)

“Hello, Todd. Last minute fill in for Eliot, who has a sprained wrist. I didn’t even think of you.”

Peggy winces internally at that. She does think of Todd McSweeten. Too much.

“Well, I mean, I was so involved—“

“Yeah. Yeah. I get it.”

He’s not even looking at her, the bastard. All in full FBI mode, eyes everywhere , the tailored suit and badge waiting in his pocket. Peggy sighs again, because he looks damn good.

“Oh hey, you made it!”

Parker is in full con mode, brunette wig, sparkling dress, and pearls.

“Yeah, I thought Eliot was here, so I was going to ask about security, and, well,” Todd looks down, scratching the back of his head.

“Don’t act so shy, I’m sure you’re glad to see Peggy! But you don’t know each other tonight, so no kissy-kissy. Come on, Eliot’s organizing security from upstairs.”

“Be right there,” Todd says.

“We have to tell her,” Peggy says. “We agreed on that the last time.”

“I promise. After tonight. No excuses.”

****

_Six months earlier_

Todd sips on his beer, hoping that no one would notice he had slipped into the kitchen to hide.

“You are not one of my servers, what are you doing in my kitchen?”

He looks at the brunette, who is stirring one of the pots while motioning at someone to do something. He remembers meeting her at Hardison’s birthday party, briefly. Pam? Penny? Peggy. 

“Please. Mercy,” he says. “Parker wants to me to meet a friend of hers. Her friends are usually criminals. I’m an FBI agent.”

Peggy grins, “I understand. She tried to set me up with the blond muscle, Quinn? Super hot, but dan-ger-ous.”

“Bless you. I owe you.”

She looks at him speculatively, then shakes her head. “You’re McSweeten, aren’t you?”

He nods. “And you are Peggy. We met briefly at Hardison’s birthday.”

“You didn’t like my cake,” she says.

Todd blushes, “Oh please don’t, I didn’t—“

“There you are!” Parker exclaims. “Oh. I didn’t know you two knew each other.”

“We met at Hardison’s birthday party. “

“Oh. Right. Anyway, Todd, you should come meet Aimee, she’s—“

“I’m seeing someone,” Todd blurts out. 

(He isn’t, but he just doesn’t want to meet anyone tonight. Parker means well, but his life is full enough right now.)

“You didn’t say anything before.”

“Well I,” he looks at Peggy pleadingly.

Her eyes widen, but she nods.

“We didn’t want to say anything,” Todd says.

“We?”

Parker looks back an forth between Peggy and Todd, and smiles.

“Oh! Really? That’s so sweet! Carry on, I’ll just be introducing Aimee to Quinn then. Happy birthday to me!”

She pops out the door.

“I’m so sorry,” Todd says. “I—“

“No. Don’t. It’s an excellent idea. I’m a caterer. You’re an FBI agent. Our schedules do not match at all, so we can totally ‘take it slow’ for a good amount of time before ‘breaking up.’ “ Peggy says.

Todd smiles. “I like the way you think. We need to plan. Learn something about each other.”

“I like cats.”

“Me too.”

****

_Present day_

“Eliot says one of the servers is security for the mark. I can’t make it to the kitchen. McSweeten?”

“On it,” Todd says to the voice in his ear. 

So far, it’s been smooth sailing. Parker has the mark in her hands, Eliot has only yelled once, and Hardison has all the orange soda he could want. (He hasn’t been thinking about Peggy at all, her warm smile, the way she moves around the kitchen, how she smelled of cinnamon, and how he wished he could kiss her again.)

Todd goes in the kitchen, carrying an empty tray.

“Hey, sorry,” he says to the server Eliot has noticed. “I totally knocked this over and everyone really wants more peanut chicken.”

The server nods, and goes to take the tray, but then swings it towards Todd. He ducks and rolls to the side, giving the server time to start running around the island to the knife block.

“Oh no you don’t. My knives. Stay. In. A. Set.”

Todd watches in slight horror, surprise, (and oh boy, a bit of lust,) as Peggy grabs a pan and swings it into the server’s elbow, knee, and the back of his head. He’s never seen her angry before. It’s amazing.

“You, ah, take your kitchenware seriously.”

Peggy glares at him, and he holds up his hands in peace. He knows right then he’s going to tell her he doesn’t want to fake break up. He wants to kiss her. Todd steps forward.

*

Peggy puts the pan down. “Todd, behind you.”

The mark is standing in the kitchen door, looking in horror at the server, then Peggy and Todd.

“Shit,” Todd says as the mark turns to run.

Peggy follows him out of the kitchen, gripping the doorway as Todd tackles the mark, wrestling him to the ground.

(She does not check out Todd’s ass in the suit pants, or think many things as he pulls out a pair of handcuffs. Nope. Not at all.)

“FBI,” He says gruffly. “I wouldn’t move if I were you. My partner has a hell of a backhand with the pan.”

Peggy giggles as the mark looks back at her in horror. Not a bad night, considering.

****

_Two weeks earlier, Eliot’s kitchen_

Peggy throws the dough onto the board, kneading it.

“I mean, he calls his pet a goblin? What kind of person does that?”

Eliot makes a non-committal noise, chopping the vegetables to go with the soup and bread.

“Yeah, I know, it’s a fake relationship, but damn it, he at least seems, you know, normal. He’s not a thief, or a killer, or obsessed with tacos. I thought I was friends with him, but being mean to a pet, I just cannot stand for that-“

“Peggy—“

“Furthermore, he calls it ugly! Poor thing probably hates him. I want to go kidnap it. Can you help me with that?”

“Peggy. His cat is named Goblin. He calls it ugly out of affection. It’s hairless.”

Peggy blinks at Eliot.

“Oh. I.”

She puts the dough down and sighs.

“I was really hoping for a reason to not like him,” she whispers.

Eliot’s stance shifts. “Did he do something? Do I—“

“No. Yes. No! We were at one of the coffee shops, planning our fake break up when Parker came in, and sat with us. Normally we just have to sit close, hold hands, maybe call each other sweetheart, but he got a call. He had to leave. He went for the hug, and I might have whispered that we _were on a date_ and he kissed me, and maybe I , uh, kissed him back?”

Peggy lets out a breath.

“Okay,” Eliot says. “So obviously the fake dating has not involved kissing up until now?”

She shakes her head.

“Didn’t realize McSweeten had moves.”

“No, I mean, yes, but it wasn’t like tongues or anything but it’s all I can think about, but the only contact I’ve had since is confirming our next meeting to plan our break up and, well, yeah.”

“You do realize, you’ve been really dating him for awhile now.”

“What?”

“You get together, talk about mutual interests, sometimes have food, and now you’ve kissed. Sounds like a relationship to me.”

Peggy gasps. “Oh my god, we’re dating.”

“So, obsessing about the kissing thing? Normal. What you do next is up to you.”

Peggy nods. “Okay.”

*

_Same time, Hardison’s game room_

“So you went on a coffee date and you kissed her?” Hardison says.

Todd keeps pacing. “Yes. No. Yes! Well, It wasn’t a date. We were planning the break up, and Parker comes waltzing in. Which is fine, we can hold hands and flirt, whatever, but I got called into work, and stupid me thinks, oh I can hug her goodbye, but when she does that intense whisper thing, I don’t know, I just kissed her? And she totally kissed back, and now I sort of want to kiss her again, but when I texted her about rescheduling the break up meeting, she just agreed and maybe I was overthinking it?”

“Breathe,” Hardison says. “One: you were on a date. You’ve been dating like normal people for awhile now. You go out together, talk about things you are both interested in, make plans to see each other again, and enjoy each other’s company. That’s dating, man. You just finally got to the kissing portion.”

“No,” Todd shakes his head, “I mean, we’re friends. Well, we’ve become friends. Everything has to do with making sure Parker doesn’t find out we’ve been lying to her. Every—oh there was that one time we went to see that movie because no one else wanted to—we’re totally dating.”

Hardison smiles. “See. When you meet for your next ‘break up’ meeting just tell her you don’t want to.”

“Yeah. I can do that. I can’t do that. I can totally do it.”

“Look, Parker made me jump off ten different buildings on our first official date. You’ll be fine.”

“Yeah.”

****

_Present day (later that evening)_

Peggy walks up the driveway and knocks on the door.

“I don’t want to break up,” she says to herself.

She knows he’s home because he texted her, asked her to come over, if she wanted. She did want.

She loses all thought when he opens the door.

Todd has lost the suit jacket, and the shirt has three buttons undone, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. There are no socks on his feet, his hair is rumpled, and in his arms is the ugliest hairless cat she has ever seen. Her mouth is dry.

“You might want to put Goblin down,” she says, carefully.

“Okay.”

He steps inside, and puts the cat down. “Why did you—mmmph!”

Peggy kisses him, one hand in a fist around the front of his shirt, the other in his hair, puling him as close as she can. His response is immediate, pushing her into the door as he closes it, arms around her waist, pulling her flush to his body. 

“I guess,” she breathes as he trails wet kisses down her neck, “this means you don’t want to break up either.”

He pulls away, chuckling. His smile is as if she were the brightest, most beautiful goddess that ever lived. 

“Something like that.”

He leans his forehead against hers. “I have another confession to make.”

“Okay.”

“I really really want to take you down the hall, strip your clothes off, and show you how little I want to break up with you. But I’m not sure where we are on that sort of thing?”

Peggy grins, unbuttoning his shirt slowly. “Well, we have been dating for six months. I think we’re good. Plus, I think it’s only fair that I also show you how much I don’t want to break up with you.”

“Perfect,” Todd murmurs, and she squeals slightly as he lifts her up. She wraps her legs around him, laughing as he nudges the curious cat out of the way.

She has his shirt untucked when he sets her down on the bed. He pulls it off.

“You’re wearing too many clothes,” he says.

Peggy peels off her two shirts at the same time, leaving her bra.

“Let me help,” Todd murmurs.

His fingers dip underneath the waistband of her pants, and she’s thankful the went with the drapey pull on ones. His fingers trail down her legs and she shivers as his hands wrap around her calves, and his lips caress her inner thigh, his teeth scraping against her skin.

“Oh,” she breathes as he kisses her against the cotton of her panties, and his fingers tighten, a low growl coming from his throat.

“Don’t stop,” Peggy says.

Todd gets on the bed, levering his body over hers, “Not unless you want me too.”

“Just touch me again. Please.”

He kisses her again, and she realizes at some point he’s lost his pants, and she can feel him against her, straining against his underwear.

“Oh god, we should have done this sooner,” she moans, slipping her hand underneath his boxers to pull him closer.

Todd shakes his head. “Maybe, but this is perfect. You are perfect. I want to touch you everywhere.”

“Yes. Please.”

He pulls aways slightly, his hands taking her bra off as he kisses her neck, her collarbone, feasting on her breast, murmuring how sweet she is, how beautiful. Peggy arches under his mouth, her legs brushing together in search of friction.

She takes one of his hands, bringing it down between her legs.

“I thought I told you to touch me,” she breathes.

Todd looks up from her breasts, and his grin sends a shiver down her spine. “Yes, ma’am.”

Peggy makes sure to file that kink away for later, but doesn’t say much, because Todd’s mouth is on her breast and his hand, oh, his hand is slowly rubbing, and she can’t really think because the point between his mouth and hand is on fire, and she crests as he murmurs her name into her chest.

“Probably. Should. Have asked this, god, before. Please. Tell me. You. Have—“

“Protection?” Todd kisses her and she pouts as his hand reaches for his drawer. “Of course I do.”

“Are FBI agents like Boy Scouts? Always prepared?”

“Lucky for you, I’m both.”

“Then get prepared and fuck me already,” Peggy says. “Otherwise I think we’ll both be disappointed.”

“I should be insulted, but you are right,” Todd laughs as he opens the package.

Peggy props up on one elbow, watching as he puts it on. She makes sure to exaggerate how long she looks him up and down, until he turns slightly red. She smiles and beckons him back to the bed with one finger.

“We are going to definitely talk about your control issues,” he murmurs as he slowly slips inside her.

“You’re the one who keeps obeying,” she says.

He kisses her silent, his hips moving slowly with hers, then faster as her body clenches around him, and the only sounds are their bodies moving together, and whispered moans that become louder as he peaks inside her, and she comes again as his hand slips between them urge her on.

After a moment, with Todd across her, completely relaxed, Peggy says,

“You know, I’m not sure how you really feel. I think you might have to show me again.”

Todd looks at her, and they both burst out laughing.

****

_Two days later_

“I can’t believe we are using the cameras in the brewpub to spy on Peggy and McSweeten,” Eliot says.

“I can’t believe you thought that their relationship was fake. They’ve totally slept together,” Parker says. “I told you when I first introduced them they were perfect for each other.”

Eliot looks at Hardison, who grins.

“Not one word, Hardison. Not one.”

Hardison puts some popcorn in his mouth, and makes sure that the sound on the cameras is still ‘broken.’ He wouldn’t tell Parker that Eliot had pushed the server Peggy’s way as long as Eliot wouldn’t say anything about Hardison texting McSweeten that Peggy had just left the party with the purpose of getting Todd to text her that night. Nope. Not saying a word.

Plus, now that this was done, he was pretty sure Parker was going to bring up Quinn’s lack of a relationship again, and then the entertainment would really begin.

 

*


End file.
